About Us

Your Ally

Neighborhood Allies is a unique community development partner. We are part funder, lender, connector and consultant.

We believe that Pittsburgh’s future is built upon strong neighborhoods. We are a forward-thinking, solutions-oriented community developer that brings hope, fresh ideas, expertise, and resources to distressed and transitional neighborhoods. We accomplish this work by listening to the needs of neighborhoods and serving as a catalyst for change. Our approach to neighborhood revitalization is comprehensive and multifaceted. We make and support neighborhood-based investments that seed ideas, help transform vulnerable neighborhoods and identify scalable ways to create positive social impact, using our Healthy Neighborhoods Framework as our roadmap.

We bring leadership, a network of resources, and solutions-based strategies to Pittsburgh neighborhoods creating hope and pathways to opportunity.

Provide financial resources, expertise and technical assistance to help neighborhoods become better places for residents to live, work and play.

Serve a key role as neighborhood facilitator, bringing together partners, experts, best practices and resources to help Pittsburgh envision what is possible.

Collaborate with other organizations across sectors, working on the same or complimentary issues (shared learning or research; build networks, alliances and coalitions; and promote best practices within the field).

Deploy a strategic investment approach and focus our place based investments on six neighborhoods that have experienced generations of disinvestment including: Hill District, Hilltop, Homewood, Larimer, Millvale and Wilkinsburg.

As your ally, our Strategic Priorities are to:

Act as a convener to support the collective neighborhood vision and strategy

Support and connect aligned activities and expand broader partnerships

Establish shared measurements

Build public will and social capital

Introduce best practices and serve as thought leader on policy coordination

We are a trusted partner and advisor; and are accountable for our neighborhood investments.

We partner and collaborate with others to make Pittsburgh neighborhoods better places for everyone.

We are part of the national network of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) sites. LISC is the largest community development support organization in the country.

We bring capital to the region maximizing and leveraging local funders’ investments.

We work together with community leaders and neighborhood stakeholders to tackle though issues, build trust and implement long-term solutions.

Our values:

INNOVATION – Catalyze fresh thinking, take risks, test new approaches in order to creatively disrupt the status quo, improve broken systems and provide opportunity pathways for all residents in the most distressed and transitional neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. We aim to support ideas that can be replicated, expanded, and shared broadly with the community development field.

COLLABORATION – Collaborate with other organizations across sectors, working on the same or complementary issues (shared learning or research; build networks, alliances, and coalitions; hold strategic convenings; promote best practices within the field).

LEADERSHIP – Engage and build leadership among low-income communities and people of color. We will invest in projects that challenge obsolete norms and support efforts to move innovation to implementation.

IMPACT – Make catalytic investments to improve the lives of low-income residents and the systems that impact them. We will also evaluate ourselves for effectiveness, and will be intentionally self-reflective as we strive to make continuous improvements in our own work.

ASSET & OPPORTUNITY ORIENTATION – Build on the assets and opportunities of communities, instead of deficiencies, and strengthen both neighborhood and family assets. Identify where areas of opportunity and areas of need intersect or overlap.

EQUITY – We are guided by the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion in all of our work. We believe the best solutions are discovered by including diverse perspective and we anticipate that our applicants and community-based partners will reflect diversity in leadership, staffing and governance.